


family's always there, even when you aren't

by sparrowvanya



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Could be read as ship, Hurt/Comfort, both susan and the deca are only mentioned, mentions of character death but not onscreen, tags will probably be edited later, the doctor is probably ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25366516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrowvanya/pseuds/sparrowvanya
Summary: The Master should never have met this version of the Doctor. He should never have met the one who ran. It isn’t right. But he does anyway. He’s fresh from burning Gallifrey to the ground, still smelling like smoke, and he’s meeting a Doctor he was never supposed to meet.or: koschei, you chose this family. they aren't going to leave you that easily. (or maybe they already did.)
Relationships: The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who), The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	family's always there, even when you aren't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Valc0](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valc0/gifts).



> happy birthday valc0! i got "first doctor" "dhawan!master" "back of the alley" and "it's not that bad, you know? having a family" from your thoschei prompt generator and.... here's the result

The two meet by accident one day in an alleyway. The timelines are bending around them but neither cares, one so young and carefree that he barely notices, the other so old and tired that he barely cares.

The Master should never have met this version of the Doctor. He should never have met the one who ran. It isn’t right. But he does anyway. He’s fresh from burning Gallifrey to the ground, still smelling like smoke, and he’s meeting a Doctor he was never supposed to meet.

He turns to leave before the other Time Lord can notice, but he’s already too late.

“Who are you and why are you standing outside my TARDIS?”

The Master turns slowly. “I’m someone you never should have seen. Now, if you excuse me, I need to leave before something goes wrong.”

He turns to leave and takes a step before a surprisingly strong hand takes hold of his arm, holding him in place with a grip far too steely for such an old-looking man. “I know you, do I not?”

“Not anymore.” The Master tries to wrench his arm out of the Doctor’s grip, but he can’t; he’s being held too tightly to escape. The timelines are twisting and wrenching around the two of them, and neither can leave.

“No, I do believe that I do know you.” The old man licks a finger and holds it up as if he’s checking the wind. “The timeline distortions seem to signify that we shouldn’t be in the same place, although you don’t _seem_ like a future version of myself. So who exactly are you?”

The Master’s eyes are wider than they should be, even though he’s trying to keep his face calm. “I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”  
  
This face of the Doctor’s is rather harsh, always has been (and always will be) but he seems to soften for a second. “You’re Koschei, aren’t you?”

Hearing his old name feels like a punch to the chest. The Master had last heard that name….. he couldn’t even remember when. It sends him back to his childhood in an instant, a childhood the man in front of him had only barely just left, relative to the Master’s own timeline.

“Not anymore,” he says, and it sounds choked, and he _doesn’t want to show this much emotion dammit_ but the Doctor’s face splits into a smile he hasn’t seen on any regeneration’s face in such a long time and a single tear rolls down his cheek.

The Doctor lets go of his arm, but the Master stays frozen in place. “How long has it been for you, Koschei?”

“Too long,” he whispers in response, because if he speaks any louder his voice will break.

The Doctor seems to understand, nodding and grabbing his lapels. “So you ran as well.”

It makes the Master chuckle slightly. “Six of the ten of us ran, neither of us are special.” It’s been a while since he’d seen most of the others. The most recent was… Mortimus? And that was still a century or two ago. (He still isn’t counting the Doctor in that list. Probably never will. They see each other too often.) 

“And the other two?” They both know about Rallon and Millenia. No need to count them. 

“Both dead, last I heard.” He doesn’t say he might have just killed Jelpax himself. Doesn’t say that his ashes might be part of the smoke clinging to his suit. There’s no need for this Doctor to know that, however temporarily. The timelines are so messed up he’ll forget on his own anyway.

“What about myself?”  
  
The Master doesn’t answer him.

“I see.”

He should be angry at the Doctor (the Timeless Child, the founder) for what he’d just found out, back on Gallifrey. But he can’t seem to muster the strength just yet. He’s too tired to be angry.

“My dear boy, look at me.” He doesn’t know when he looked away, and he doesn’t know why being called “my dear” feels so nice. There’s a twinkle in the Doctor’s eyes that he hasn’t seen in this regeneration yet. Why exactly had this one been called the rude one again?

“We’ll always be your family, even if you don’t think we will. It isn’t that bad, you know. Having a family. It just means you support each other when you need it.” The Doctor— Theta Sigma— had always known the right thing to say to him on a bad day, hadn’t he?

And he shouldn’t be getting this emotional over a promise that wouldn’t last, but he _is,_ and even though he should be hating the Doctor he _isn’t_ and he finds himself wanting to go back and find whichever regeneration he was supposed to meet next and see if it’s still a promise they would make, even though the Master knows everything’s changed since they were kids running through fields of red grass under an orange sky. So before he gets his hopes up too far he just does his best to thank the Doctor and moves to leave, hearing the other Time Lord head back to his TARDIS.

“Susan! Would you like to see…”

He leaves before he can hear any more.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on tumblr: [@sparrowvanya](https://sparrowvanya.tumblr.com/) or [@keeperofthematrix](https://keeperofthematrix.tumblr.com/)


End file.
